


Taking Flight

by BunniesofDoom



Series: Change of Plans [3]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Family, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Spoilers: Volume 8 (RWBY), Volume 8 (RWBY)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-06
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-11 23:28:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29250735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BunniesofDoom/pseuds/BunniesofDoom
Summary: Ruby wakes up to the floor shaking under her.
Relationships: Maria Calavera & Ruby Rose, Penny Polendina & Pietro Polendina, Penny Polendina/Ruby Rose
Series: Change of Plans [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2125074
Kudos: 31





	Taking Flight

Penny crouches next to Ruby, a worried frown on her face as she brushes her friend's dark hair away from her forehead. The unconscious girl is lying tucked up against the side of the control panel, to hopefully keep her safe and out of the way during Amity's launch. "I hope she wakes up soon. Do you think she'll be okay?"

"I'm sure she'll be fine," Maria reassures her. "It's just a matter of time before she wakes up."

"I hope that you're right," Penny murmurs sadly. She can't help but worry about her friend. She's never seen Ruby so still before. It seems so unnatural for her normally cheerful and energetic friend. She wishes there were something she could do to help—

"Now, Penny, let's not get sidetracked from the whole reason that we came here," her father scolds her.

"Yes, sir," she replies obediently, pushing herself to her feet and coming to his side.

"Good," her father says when she joins him. "Now, Penny, Amity Tower is requesting liftoff."

Ruby wakes up to the floor shaking under her. She jolts upright just in time to hear an explosion from somewhere below her.

What happened? Where is she? It looks like she's inside the Amity Coliseum, but why? The last thing she remembers is being on board the airship with everyone.

She spots Penny across from her, gazing down over the edge—most likely looking for the sound of the explosion. She glances back at her father for a moment. "Penny, no!" Dr. Polendina cries, reaching out a hand as if to stop his daughter.

Penny ignores him, jumping over the edge. Seized by worry for her friend, Ruby immediately shoves herself to her feet, ignoring her stiff muscles and aching body in favor of following Penny. She ignores the startled cries of her name, instead clambering over the edge of the tower after Penny, using Crescent Rose to make the drop.

Whatever is going on, she's not letting Penny face this alone.

As soon as she makes it to the floor of the Coliseum, the ground once again shudders violently underneath her, sending her to her knees. It takes her much longer than she would like to make it back to her feet and regain her balance, but she takes off in pursuit of Penny once again as soon as she's able—only to run right into Emerald.

"You again?" the green-haired girl groans, rolling her eyes. "Why do you always have to get in the way?" She shakes her head. "Well, you won't be able to interfere this time. I'll make sure of it."

Her heart skips a beat. If Emerald is here, that means that Cinder is probably here as well. She's come for the Winter Maiden powers. Penny is in danger.

She charges Emerald without a second thought. She's not letting anyone hurt Penny again.

Ruby wishes she could see what's happening to Penny, but both her and Cinder have used their powers to take to the sky, putting them well out of sight. Occasionally she can hear them clashing when they're near the part of the arena she and Emerald are fighting in, but that's as much as she can tell from where she is.

Plus, she can't spend all her time worrying about Penny right now. She needs to keep her focus on Emerald, who is tricky enough to fight even when you don't factor in her ability to create illusions. She'll have to trust Penny to hold her own against Cinder. She's done it before, after all.

In return, Ruby will keep one of the other threats against Penny at bay.

Sounds of more explosions come from overhead, and Ruby can hear Maria fighting across the arena from her, but Emerald refuses to give her an opportunity to go help her friends.

And then Penny is there, taking out Maria's opponent in a flash of green light before crashing to the ground. Cinder quickly follows, somehow looking even angrier than usual, and Penny quickly rises into the air to face her opponent, lighting crackling around her.

Emerald scrambles out of reach, raising her hands and gazing intently on Penny. It only takes a moment for Ruby to figure out what she's doing—she's creating an illusion for Penny, to distract her so Cinder can win.

Not on Ruby's watch, she's not. Ruby does the only thing she can think of—she tackles the other girl, partially breaking her concentration and weakening whatever distraction she was trying to make. Overhead, Penny deflects Cinder's attack effortlessly before taking out the Fall Maiden in a brilliant flash of green light.

Emerald screams Cinder's name, shoving Ruby away and dashing to her side. Ruby is slower to follow—she's really starting to feel the strain of fighting so hard right after being unconscious for what seems like a long time. By the time she skids to a halt by Penny's side, Emerald is fleeing with Cinder in tow.

"Ruby! You're awake!" The redhead exclaims brightly, before frowning. She has burns on her face and dress, and she's missing a glove.

Ruby has never seen her friend look so disheveled. "Penny! What happened?"

Penny sighs. "I had to let Cinder go, or Emerald would have taken out the entire tower. As dangerous as Cinder is, I decided that we needed to focus on getting the broadcast out. I'm sorry I let her get away. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Penny." Ruby immediately brushes off her concern. "And I don't care about Cinder right now. Are you okay?" she asks, gesturing to the damage clearly visible on Penny's face and clothing.

Penny nods. "I'm fine. I can assure you that the damage is purely superficial." She glances down at her hands sadly. "We should get back to my father."

They've drifted off course. Ruby's heart sinks when Pietro tells them that they're out of broadcasting range.

She's started to put the pieces together. After she'd fallen asleep on the airship, they must have decided to try to use the communications tower to contact the rest of the world for help. And now, their best chance to save the kingdom of Atlas is in jeopardy because of a damaged thruster.

Except, Penny offers to hold the tower in place long enough to get the broadcast out.

It's a good idea, but Ruby is worried. Penny just finished fighting against Cinder, and she's clearly worse for the wear for it. And Dr. Polendina seems to think that the conditions out there will be too hard on her. But—Penny seems so determined. And this might be their only chance. It might be worth the risk.

Dr. Polendina seems to have the same concerns as Ruby, and he and Penny argue for a few minutes before he finally gives in and reluctantly agrees to let her do it. She kisses his forehead and prepares to take off again. It's sweet to see how much they care about each other.

"Be safe out there, okay?" Ruby says, smiling at Penny.

"I will," Penny replies. "We'll see each other again real soon, I promise."

For a moment, it seems like everything will work out. Penny is able to get the tower into the proper range, and the broadcast goes out. She, Maria, and Dr. Polendina let out a cheer.

"How long was I out?" she asks Maria, glad to finally have a chance to figure out what happened.

"You've only been out for about a day. You drifted off on the airship and wouldn't wake up, so when we headed for the tower and the others split up, we brought you with us to Amity. We figured you'd be safer here, since we weren't sure how long you'd be out."

Ruby's heart drops. She was out for a whole day? "They split up?" she says, dismay clear in her voice.

Maria nods. "I'm afraid so. Ren, Jaune, and Oscar wanted to stay behind in Mantle to help, while your sister, Weiss, Blake, Penny, and Nora went to retrieve the code we needed to launch Amity."

"Are they okay?"

"We haven't heard from Jaune, Ren, or Oscar, but the mission to retrieve the code was a success."

Ruby lets out a sigh of relief. "That's good to hear, at least."

"Yes, well, you should know, Penny said that—" Maria is interrupted by the floor of the tower shaking under her feet. "What's going on?"

Something has happened to Penny. Dr. Polendina gets through to her, but she sounds scared and confused. She says she doesn't know what's happening, and she keeps talking about the vault, and having to leave. Something is horribly wrong.

And then they lose contact with Penny altogether, aside from one final "I love you."

Ruby doesn't think about it. She runs over to the edge of the tower and launches herself after Penny.

It's freezing outside, and if she didn't have her aura to protect her, she would be frozen immediately. Instead, she forces herself to keep her hands steady, and with a couple of shots from Crescent Rose, she's caught up to the other girl, wrapping her arms around her waist.

Penny doesn't respond, her eyes blank and face utterly slack, and panic surges in Ruby's chest. Her instincts kick in and she closes her eyes, channeling more of her aura into her semblance than she's ever used before. In the next instant, she's crouched over Penny on the floor of the communications tower, blinking dark spots out of her eyes.

Dr. Polendina and Maria let out shouts of surprise, but Ruby ignores them, focused solely on Penny. Her friend is still just laying there, absolutely still, her face blank and eyes vacant. Before she can start fretting about what happened to the redhead, the room is engulfed with a flash of silver light, obscuring her vision.

When Ruby can see again, she ignores the stinging in her eyes to check on Penny. Her friend stirs, brilliant green eyes fluttering open. "Ruby?"

"Penny!" Ruby lunges forward to hug her. "I'm so glad that you're okay."

"Ruby," Penny says again, slowly, returning the hug. "What happened?"

"That's what we were hoping you could tell us," Maria chimes in, peering down at the two girls.

"I don't know," Penny admits, pushing herself to her feet. "All of the sudden, I couldn't control my body. I must have rebooted to try to regain control of my systems. But whatever was controlling me seems to be gone now."

Ruby sighs in relief. "That's good to hear."

"I have some bad news," announces Dr. Polendina. The girls turn to look at him. "I'm glad that you're okay now, Penny, but we appear to have drifted off course, and our thrusters are too damaged to correct our path." He sighs heavily. "I'm afraid that we're going to drift directly into the mouth of Salem's whale, at the rate we're going."

There's a beat of shocked silence. Penny bites her lip. "Surely there must be something we can do," she says. "I could try to correct our course, push the tower out of the whale's path—"

"No," Dr. Polendina says immediately. "I'm not letting you try that again. You've pushed yourself enough for one day."

"But—"

"Then—what should we do?" Ruby asks quietly. She feels smaller and more helpless than she's ever felt before.

"Penny," Dr. Polendina says sharply. "Take Ruby and get out of here."

"What? No!" Penny shakes her head furiously. "I will not leave you behind."

"Yeah, we're not just going to abandon you guys," Ruby chimes in. It's simply unthinkable. "We'll stay here in fight.

"You must leave. It's the only way."

"But—"

"He's right, you know," Maria interrupts Penny. "Salem is eager to get her hands on both of you. It would be best for all of us to keep you girls well out of her reach. So, go." She smiles at them reassuringly. "And don't count Pietro and I out just yet. We still have some tricks up our sleeves."

Both girls look at each other reluctantly and sigh. "If you're sure that's what's best," Penny says quietly.

"I am."

While Penny hugs her father goodbye, Maria studies Ruby critically. "I've never seen someone use the silver eye powers like that."

"Me neither," Ruby admits. "I've never done anything like that before."

Maria smiles at her. "You've come a long way, kid. Make sure that you don't forget what I taught you."

"I won't," Ruby promises.

As they fly away from the tower, Penny looks like she wants to cry. Ruby pats her shoulder. "We will come back for them, Penny."

"I know," the redhead whispers.

By the time they land in the front courtyard of the Schnee Manor, the sun has started to rise. Blake, Yang, Weiss, and May come running immediately. "Hey guys," Ruby says weakly, giving a little wave before passing out, her body sagging limply in Penny's arms.

"Hello, everyone," Penny smiles awkwardly. "Could we come inside? We've had a long night."

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Please comment and leave kudos if you liked it.
> 
> And it's done! I might decide to add more to this later if I'm so inspired, but for now I'm declaring this fic complete!
> 
> Anything I didn't do a rewrite of, you can assume it goes the same as canon. I wasn't about to rewrite parts of the episode if they were essentially the same because that would be boring and I am lazy.
> 
> Just a reminder that I do take requests for fics, so if there's an idea that you'd like to see me write, feel free to message me and if I like it, I might end up writing something for it.


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